The Royal Society works in partnership with a number of other national and international scientific organisations around the world on a wide range of scientific and science policy issues. Through bilateral and multilateral engagement with our sister academies and other national bodies, our participation in a number of pan-European scientific fora, and our active role in multilateral and global scientific organisations, we aim to ensure that UK science plays a pivotal role in addressing the grand challenges of the 21st century, and to speak for UK science in the international arena.
International engagement has been an integral part of the Royal Society's mission since its foundation in 1660. The position of Foreign Secretary of the Royal Society is older than that of its equivalent post in the British Government. We have always recognised science as a universal enterprise and have been an international network from the start, electing Fellows and Foreign Members from across the world and encouraging collaboration between scientists wherever they may be.
In an increasingly globalised world, in which the growing impact of human activity on the planet is becoming ever more apparent, supporting international scientific collaboration, and with it the movement of ideas and talented researchers across disciplines, boundaries and borders has never been more important. The major challenges of the 21st century, such as climate change, food and water security, sustainable energy and infectious diseases, are inherently global in nature, and will require solutions that go beyond national science and innovation strategies.
The Society is an active member of the International Council for Science, the InterAcademy Panel (whose 2010 General Assembly will be hosted by the Society at the start of our 350th anniversary year), the InterAcademy Council, and the European Academies Sciences Advisory Council, and has close links with a wide variety of national scientific academies and other leading scientific organisations worldwide. We manage these bilateral and multilateral relations in order to ensure that the UK has access to, and engages with, the best science around the world, and to act as the voice of UK science in these international fora. More specific geographical information on our international links can be found on our pages on our work with Asia, Europe and sub-Saharan Africa, where we are actively developing research links and support for our sister academies through our capacity building programme.
Our international grants programme enables high calibre UK scientists to initiate collaborations, exchange ideas, and develop new skills and experience from the world's leading researchers. This includes the prestigious Newton International Fellowship scheme, which is run by the Society, the British Academy, and the Royal Academy of Engineering, which selects the very best early-stage post-doctoral researchers from all over the world, and offers support for two years at UK research institutions.
The Society also runs a multidisciplinary Frontiers of Science programme which brings together outstanding early-career scientists from the UK and other countries around the world. We have also run a number of workshops, conferences and meetings in a variety of countries in recent years on topics such as food-crop production, biofuels and avian influenza.
For 24 years, the Society has supported the South East Asia Rainforest Research Programme (SEARRP) which was established in response to mounting concern over the future of South-East Asia's rainforests, and aims to promote scientific understanding of tropical rainforest systems, ecology and dynamics in order to contribute to their sustainable management and conservation.
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